This was the first England Test tour not made under the name of
the M.C.C. since 1903-04.

The tour took place against the background of Kerry Packer's
World Series Cricket. The team happened to fly out of London
on the same day that the first ball of a World Series Cricket match was
bowled at VFL Park
in Melbourne,
where an Australian XI took on a World XI. Also on the same day, Justice
Slade found in the High Court that the I.C.C.and T.C.C.B. had no right to ban Kerry Packer's players from taking
part in Test cricket, which was an unlawful inducement to get the players to
break their contracts with Kerry Packer, and a restraint of trade.Costs awarded against the cricket
establishment were almost £200,000.

Mike Brearley had taken over from Tony Greig as captain
but when Brearley had to go home with a broken arm, Geoff Boycott crowned his
first tour since 1973-74 with the England captaincy he coveted.

Arriving in New
Zealand England played on a poor Test pitch at ‘windy’ Wellington
and Richard Hadlee’s ten wickets brought New Zealand’s first victory. Ian
Botham’s maiden Test century at Christchurch
and match figures of 8 for 111 runs (23 of which were no-balls) soon restored
parity but the third Test was a bore draw notable only for Clive Radley’s
11-hour innings.

Unavailable:Dennis Amiss,Tony Greig,Alan Knott,John Snow,Derek Anderwood
andBob Woolmer, the latter declaring
his unavailability only two days before the team was announced.All these players were contracted to World
Series Cricket.

Clive Radley was
called up in place of Mike Brearley,
who fractured his arm defending a ball from Sikander Bakht of Sind in a one-day match before the Third Test on 15
January.Brearley went back to England
immediately.

Geoff Boycott took over the captaincy and Bob Willis became
vice-captain.Radley arrived in Karachi from Sydney
on 17 January.

Old missed a few matches in Pakistan with a knee injury and
later stomach illness, as did Miller and Hendrick.

Fixtures/Results

a

Rawalpindi

B.C.C.P. Patron's XI

Drawn

b

Faisalabad

United
Bank

Drawn

c

Peshawar

N.W.F.P.Governor's
XI

Won 212 r

d

LAHORE

PAKISTANFirst Test

DRAWN

e

§ Sahiwal

Pakistan (1st
ODI)

Won 3 w

f

Lahore

Habib Bank

Abandoned

g

ϯ Lahore

Habib Bank (30 overs)

Won 65 r

h

§ Sialkot

Pakistan (2nd
ODI)

Won 6 w

i

HYDERABAD

PAKISTANSecond Test

DRAWN

j

Bahawalpur

Punjab

Drawn

k

§ Lahore

Pakistan (3rd
ODI)

Lost 36 r

l

Karachi

Sind(35
overs)

Lost 3 w

m

KARACHI

PAKISTANThird Test

DRAWN

n

Auckland

Auckland

Drawn

o

ϯ Hamilton

Northern Districts(35
overs)

Won scoring rate

p

New Plymouth

Central Districts

Tied

q

Christchurch

Canterbury

Drawn

r

WELLINGTON

NEW ZEALANDFirst Test

LOST
72 r

s

Dunedin

Otago

Won 6 w

t

Temuka

Young New
Zealand

Won inns 23

u

CHRISTCHURCH

NEW ZEALANDSecond Test

WON
174 r

v

AUCKLAND

NEW ZEALANDThird Test

DRAWN

† not first-class

§ One-day internationals

Time spent in Pakistan before First Test: 20 days

(24 November - 14 December)

Test
appearances on tour

(v
Pakistan & NZ 1977-78)

6 -Boycott, Miller, Randall, Roope, Taylor, Willis

5 -Edmonds,
Rose.

4 -Lever.

3 - Botham, Cope, Old.

2 -Brearley, Gatting, Radley

1 -Hendrick.

0 -Downton.

Match appearances

TTest match

oone-day international

x other match

W wonL lostD drawnTtied

N no
resultA abandoned

Ccancelledu unknown result

Cope, Boycott, and Lever played for Lahore Gymkhana during the
first one-day international at Sahiwal, as did Willis, Brearley and Hendrick
during the second at Sialkot,
owing to a lack of match practice.

P A K
I S T A N

N E
WZ E A L A N D

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

q

r

s

t

u

v

I T Botham

x

x

o

x

o

x

o

x

x

x

x

T

x

T

T

G Boycott

x

x

x

T

x

o

T

o

x

T

x

x

T

x

x

T

T

J M Brearley

x

x

x

T

o

x

T

x

o

x

G A Cope

x

T

x

o

T

o

T

x

x

x

P R Downton

x

o

x

x

x

x

x

P H Edmonds

x

x

o

x

o

T

x

o

x

T

x

x

x

T

x

x

T

T

M W Gatting

x

o

o

x

o

x

T

x

x

x

x

x

T

M Hendrick

x

x

o

x

x

x

x

T

x

J K Lever

x

T

x

o

T

o

x

T

x

x

x

x

T

G Miller

x

x

T

o

o

T

x

x

T

x

x

x

x

T

x

T

T

C M Old

x

x

T

o

x

o

x

x

x

T

x

T

C T Radley

x

x

x

x

x

T

T

D W Randall

x

x

x

T

o

x

o

T

x

o

T

x

x

x

T

x

x

T

T

G R J Roope

x

x

x

T

o

x

o

T

x

o

T

x

x

x

T

x

x

T

T

B C Rose

x

x

x

T

o

x

o

T

x

x

T

x

x

x

T

x

T

R W Taylor

x

x

T

x

o

T

o

T

x

x

T

x

T

T

R G D Willis

x

x

T

x

T

x

T

x

x

x

T

x

T

T

R E S U L T S

D

D

W

D

W

A

W

W

D

D

W

L

D

D

W

T

D

L

W

W

W

D

England’s six previous Test tour results

Highlights

•Geoff Miller just failed to score his first
Test century with 98 not out at Lahore

•In the three Tests in Pakistan Geoff
Boycott made successive scores of 63, 79 and 100*, 31 and 56

•Phil Edmonds took 7 for 66 in the Karachi
Test, the best by an England Test bowler in Pakistan.

•Chris Old took 6-59 in the first Test v New Zealand at Wellington, and Bob Willis 5-32 in the
second innings

•Ian Botham scored his first Test century
(103) as well as eight wickets at Christchurch,
helping England
to win

•Botham took another five wickets on a far
less helpful pitch (5-109) at Auckland.

•Clive Radley hit his maiden Test century
(158) in the third Test, but it took almost eleven hours.

Tour
Summary

F

W

L

D

T

Aban

Test Matches

6

1

1

4

0

-

Other first-class matches

10

3

1

5

1

1

†Minor matches

3

2

1

0

0

-

§ One-day internationals

3

2

1

0

0

-

All Matches

22

8

4

9

1

1

FFixturesWWonL LostD DrawnT TiedCanc CancelledAbanabandoned

Return
to England

AucklandQLondon

The team
flew out of Auckland, New Zealand, on 12 March 1978 and most players
went on a short holiday, but manager Ken Barrington and six players returned
direct to London
and arrived on the same date.